Tag Archives: Tablescapes

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It all started when I spied these adorable little cafe chair napkin rings at Pier One. I knew I had to have them in my collection. The pink and cream loosely woven napkins seemed right for the textural tablescape, so I started with those as a color theme.

Then, knowing the IRONY in buying a burlap-wrapped vase with French script writing on it, I decided to build a Frenchy centerpiece for my table that would look pretty while my house-sitter was living at my house, but which would not require any maintenance.

I popped fake flowers into the vase, got out my flameless pillar candles and some woven decorative ornaments, and put it all on a wooden platter. I had a centerpiece.

When we got home from France, I replaced the fake flowers with some pink roses from the grocery store. They didn’t hold up very well, and quickly began to droop. I liked the blowsy, fading glory look of the centerpiece better that way.

We were eager to see our neighbors across the street after our trip, so I invited them over for dinner and a little music-making. We are all working on Godspell at my church and wanted to play through some arrangements Music Man has done for the pit band. Thank goodness, my friends don’t get excited when I get out my “stuff” and the men are quite self-actualized and don’t get offended by a pink-themed table. 🙂

We began with a little champagne. I have a large collection of wine charms, some of which are store-bought and some my friend and I made by choosing very specific charms relevant to our lives. Needless to say, I usually take the saxophone charm. I like the juxtaposition of the two stages of polish on the silver against the shiny brass of the wine charm and the sparkling champagne flute.

I started with the round woven “straw” placements I got at Tuesday Morning. I kept shopping until I found three packages of four placemats. I almost always buy twelve linens just in case.

I have eight of these majolica-style Italian plates that I bought many years ago at a home store. I picked the strawberries, cherries, and apples for this table as the fruit has pink coloring. There are also plums, grapes, and pears in the set.

We finished our meal with fruit, cookies, and candies brought by our friends and served on Fostoria plates and my favorite fruit compotes (really shrimp cocktail bases!). It was a wonderful way to spend an evening winding down after the stresses of the week — and recovering from jet lag.

I encourage you to click into these two posts about the New York Botanical Garden Orchid Dinner. The place settings are awesome and just what we need if you are someplace where winter is still out in full force.

Click on the photos to go to Quintessence for more beautiful table settings!

Have a lovely day and enjoy whatever weather (or orchids) your day brings you.

The French word sortie means to dispatch a fighting unit on a mission and I was on a mission — one to find out what my favorite home decor stores had waiting for me for spring! I started with Pier One.

I was immediately drawn to this Frosted Swirl Stemware. Not really practical for drinking wine, but oh-so-pretty.

Sometimes, a creative thought can go a little awry. I’m trying to figure out how one would explain to one’s grandchild about the bunny having an Easter egg in his tummy. Hmmm…

The cute little chick makes a lot more sense and accomplishes the same thing. And I love the polka-dotted napkin — but I saw a similar one yesterday at Tuesday Morning that was MUCH cheaper. 🙂

Bottom line, my trip to Pier One did not “force” me to buy any new Easter decor items, but unfortunately, in setting up the links to this post, I discovered that the red plaid napkins I got on sale (and love, love, love) are still in stock and on sale online. I may have to buy some more…

Recently I went to a local antiques store to pick up a couple of butter knives and ran into THIS.

A drop dead gorgeous set of Frenchy china with 22 carat gold trim. Marked down to $250.00. If this isn’t a perfect example of the crime of throwing out Grandma’s china, then I’m giving up my membership in China Addicts Anonymous.

Can’t you just see this gracing your table? It’s stunning!

I started to look into the provenance of the set and what it might actually be worth. The antique store calls it French Colonial by Taylor Smith & Taylor. Apparently the decals were used by more than one china manufacturer and the series is called Courting Couple.

It turns out that the pattern is TST444 and was probably manufactured in the mid-1900s in the United States.

Can’t you just see this beautiful china sitting on your table? It needs a loving home — just not mine. Obviously, Music Man would not take kindly to me dragging home another set of somebody’s Grandma’s china; I’ve already inherited and appropriated five sets of my own beautiful dishes from relatives and estate sales.

The classic stoneware pieces are upgraded by lavish use of crystal and metallic accents — Grandma’s silver does its job again!

The key to an all white tablescape is texture and layering. Embossed detail creates interest on the dishes, golden embroidery on the placemats is mimicked on the wired ribbon accent, and the tablecloth, napkins, French scarf, and the bread warmer add lacy textures.

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Puyloubier is an ancient Provencal village at the foot of Mont Sainte-Victoire. It is surrounded by vineyards and boasts several renowned restaurants. New meets old and they coexist in Puyloubier. Philip, our tour guide, arranged for a private lunch at the Michelin rated Restaurant des Sarments. This was our first experience of true gourmet food […]